America’s HistorySeventh Edition

CHAPTER 23The Great Depression and the New Deal,

1929-1939

Copyright © 2011 by Bedford/St. Martin’s

James A. HenrettaRebecca Edwards

Robert O. Self

1. Who is the intended audience for this poster?

2. What emotions did the illustrator hope to evoke with this depiction of a young woman drying a dish?

3. How is this poster representative of what President Roosevelt hoped to provide the nation with his New Deal programs?

I. The Early Years of the Depression, 1929-1932

A. Down and Out: Life in the Great Depression1. Private Charity

• churches and synagogues were first to aid• by winter 1931 they were overwhelmed by demand• few states (8) had any kind of insurance for the unemployed• no public support for the elderly, who had to rely on family.

2. Family LifeB. Herbert Hoover Responds

1. American Traditions2. Hoover’s Failures

I. The Early Years of the Depression, 1929-1932

A. Down and Out: Life in the Great Depression2. Family Life

• delaying age of marriage, reduction in the number of pregnancies• three quarters of American school districts banned married women

from working as teachers to give men job opportunities• nonetheless, female employment increased• unemployment rates worse among African American men and

women.

B. Herbert Hoover Responds1. American Traditions2. Hoover’s Failures

I. The Early Years of the Depression, 1929-1932

B. Herbert Hoover Responds1. American Traditions

• Hoover followed two American traditions: 1) economic outcomes were the product of individual character2) through voluntary action business could regulate itself• encouraged Americans to remain confident• Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) cautiously provided

federal loans to railroads, banks.2. Hoover’s Failures

• reluctant to break with tradition of limited government; private charity could not handle massive amount of unemployment

• perceived by Americans as insensitive even though he had done more than previous presidents in time of economic need.

1. Examine the crowd greeting presidential candidate Franklin Roosevelt in West Virginia. In your opinion, why was Roosevelt photographed shaking the hand of a coal miner?

I. The Early Years of the Depression, 1929-1932C. Rising Discontent

1. Hoovervilles• the public connected Hoover’s name to the shanty towns

erected by the homeless in urban areas• farmers sought to collectively resist the banks and sheriffs

who tried to evict them• creation of the Farm Holiday Association to cut off

supplies to urban areas as a result of low prices• violent labor confrontations at Ford’s River Rouge Plant

and among coal miners in Kentucky.

I. The Early Years of the Depression, 1929-1932C. Rising Discontent

2. The Bonus Army• summer 1932 15,000 unemployed World War I veterans traveled to Washington to demand their

soldiers’ pension• camped near the Capitol building• Hoover called in the U.S. Army to evict them from the land• Hoover’s already weak popularity could not withstand public’s anger at the Army injuring veterans

and burning their encampment.

D. The 1932 Election1. Franklin D. Roosevelt

• governor of New York, wealthy, served as assistant secretary of the navy during World War I, 1921 polio attack left him wheelchair-bound for life

• easily defeated Hoover.2. The Worst Winter

• FDR elected November, took office in March 1933• unemployment grew to 50% in Cleveland, 60% in Akron, 80% in Toledo• state governors began temporarily closing banks.

I. The Early Years of the Depression, 1929-1932D. The 1932 Election

1. Franklin D. Roosevelt• governor of New York, wealthy, served as assistant

secretary of the navy during World War I, 1921 polio attack left him wheelchair-bound for life

• easily defeated Hoover.2. The Worst Winter

• FDR elected November, took office in March 1933• unemployment grew to 50% in Cleveland, 60% in Akron,

80% in Toledo• state governors began temporarily closing banks.

II. The New Deal Arrives, 1933-1935A. Roosevelt and the First Hundred Days

1. Banking Reform• day after inauguration FDR declared a bank holiday to close all banks• passed Emergency Banking Act calling for the Treasury Department to reopen banks

that had enough reserves to operate• in the first “fireside chat” FDR reassured Americans that the system would be stable• created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to insure deposits up to

$2,500 and prohibited banks from making risky investments• removed U.S. Treasury from the gold standard, Federal Reserve then lowered interest

rates.

2. Agriculture and Manufacturing3. Unemployment Relief4. Housing Crisis

II. The New Deal Arrives, 1933-1935A. Roosevelt and the First Hundred Days

2. Agriculture and Manufacturing• Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA): direct governmental

regulation of the farm economy, provided subsidies to farmers to cut production so that prices would rise (wheat, cotton, corn, hogs, rice, tobacco, dairy)

• money mostly helped those with large farms, not sharecroppers• National Industrial Recovery Act created the National Recovery

Administration (NRA) to create self-governing private associations in 600 industries.

3. Unemployment Relief4. Housing Crisis

II. The New Deal Arrives, 1933-1935A. Roosevelt and the First Hundred Days

3. Unemployment Relief• Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), led by

Harry Hopkins• avoided direct payouts (a “dole”) and instead put people

to work in the Public Works Administration (PWA), Civil Works Administration (CWA), Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC).4. Housing Crisis

• Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC) created to refinance mortgages

• Housing Act of 1937 changed the mortgage system.

II. The New Deal Arrives, 1933-1935B. The New Deal under Attack

1. Critics on the Right• Republicans created the “Liberty League” with conservative

Democrats to fight the New Deal• creation of National Association of Manufacturers (NAM)

produced radio, pictures, billboards, and direct mailing to promote free enterprise

• 1935 Schechter v. U.S. ruled the NIRA unconstitutional because it gave legislative powers to the executive

• Supreme Court struck down AAA, Railroad Retirement Act, and debt relief efforts.

2. Critics on the Populist Left

II. The New Deal Arrives, 1933-1935B. The New Deal under Attack

2. Critics on the Populist Left• Dr. Francis Townsend argued for an Old Age Revolving

Pension Plan (1933) of $200/month to people over 60 who did not work

• Father Charles Coughlin, Detroit priest, organized the National Union for Social Justice and took his argument that the New Deal was not doing enough to the radio

• Sen. Huey Long (D-LA) became critical of the New Deal in 1934, created the “Share Our Wealth Society” to argue for the equal distribution of wealth and a 100% tax on all income over $1 million.

III. The Second New Deal and the Redefining of Liberalism, 1935-1938

C. The Welfare State Comes into Being1. The Wagner Act and Social Security

• FDR moved left to combat critics• NIRA, section 7a, gave workers the right to unionize• voided by Supreme Court in 1935, new legislation proposed by Sen. Robert Wagner (D-NY)

which upheld workers right to join unions• outlawed industries’ ability to fire workers for organizing and suppress unions• created the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to protect workers and guarantee the right

to collective bargaining• Social Security Act (1935): old-age pension, federal-state system of compensation for the

unemployed, payments to widowed mothers, blind, deaf, disabled.

2. New Deal LiberalismD. From Reform to Stalemate

1. 1936 Election2. Court Battle and Economic Recession3. Keynesian Economics

III. The Second New Deal and the Redefining of Liberalism, 1935-1938

C. The Welfare State Comes into Being2. New Deal Liberalism

• to preserve individual liberty, government must assist the needy and guarantee the peoples’ basic welfare.

D. From Reform to Stalemate1. 1936 Election

• Works Progress Administration (WPA) put 8.5 million people to work on construction/repair of roads, bridges, public buildings, parks, airports

• new voters were energized by the Democratic Party under FDR; the party was able to attract voters from the North, the Midwest, organized labor, white ethnic groups, northern blacks, middle class, and many southerners.

2. Court Battle and Economic Recession3. Keynesian Economics

III. The Second New Deal and the Redefining of Liberalism, 1935-1938

D. From Reform to Stalemate2. Court Battle and Economic Recession

• FDR asked for changes to the Supreme Court• wanted to add a new member for every Court member over age 70• fears that the president wanted to “pack” the court with supporters• effort failed, though FDR did get to make appointments with subsequent

retirements• “Roosevelt Recession”: 1937-1938, FDR increased spending to get out of the

recession.

1. Keynesian Economics – John Maynard Keynes, British economist, argued that government intervention could aid the business cycle through deficit spending and manipulating interest rates.

3. Keynesian Economics

III. The Second New Deal and the Redefining of Liberalism, 1935-1938

D. From Reform to Stalemate3. Keynesian Economics

• John Maynard Keynes, British economist, argued that government intervention could aid the business cycle through deficit spending and manipulating interest rates.

IV. The New Deal’s Impact on SocietyA. A People’s Democracy

1. Organized Labor• increased numbers and political power; Congress of Industrial

Organizations (CIO) brought together all workers in an industry.2. Women and the New Deal

• generally enhanced women’s welfare but not directly• Frances Perkins, first woman named to a cabinet post (Labor)• Eleanor Roosevelt had high profile position in the White House as

the “conscience of the New Deal.”

3. African Americans under the New Deal4. Indian Policy5. Struggles in the West

IV. The New Deal’s Impact on SocietyA. A People’s Democracy

3. African Americans under the New Deal• FDR was extremely popular among African Americans, but did little

to aid them directly• CCC camps were segregated, Social Security and the Wagner Act

excluded domestic and agricultural workers• no federal anti-lynching law• Scottsboro Boys case revealed how unfair the southern justice

system was to African Americans• southern Democrats controlled the states where most blacks lived.

4. Indian Policy5. Struggles in the West

IV. The New Deal’s Impact on SocietyA. A People’s Democracy

4. Indian Policy• John Collier, head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), pushed through the Indian

Reorganization Act of 1934 (“Indian New Deal”): reversed the Dawes Act, gave Indians increased religious freedom and more power to tribal governments

• government still financially controlled reservations.

5. Struggles in the West• government promoted “repatriation “ of Mexicans (deportation), about 60% of those

deported were U.S. citizens• others left voluntarily• in California Mexican American Movement (MAM) organized with help from New Deal

funds• discrimination against Asians and Asian Americans worsened with economic downturn• many were ineligible for citizenship and aid.

IV. The New Deal’s Impact on SocietyA. A People’s Democracy

5. Struggles in the West• government promoted “repatriation “ of Mexicans

(deportation), about 60% of those deported were U.S. citizens

• others left voluntarily• in California Mexican American Movement (MAM)

organized with help from New Deal funds• discrimination against Asians and Asian Americans

worsened with economic downturn• many were ineligible for citizenship and aid.

1. According to these farm workers, what has the state of California done to alleviate their suffering during the Great Depression?

2. What unique challenges did farm workers, such as the men and women photographed here, face during the Great Depression?

IV. The New Deal’s Impact on SocietyB. Reshaping the Environment

1. Dust Bowl• 1930-1941 severe drought on the Great Plains• approx. 350,000 “Okies” sought to leave the region for California• Soil Conservation Service tried to work with farmers to prevent future soil

erosion, stop producing certain crops and plant grasses.

2. Tennessee Valley Authority3. Grand Coulee

C. The New Deal and the Arts1. The Federal Art Project2. “Documentary Impulse”

IV. The New Deal’s Impact on SocietyB. Reshaping the Environment

2. Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) • begun 1933, flood control, reforestation, electricity generation, agricultural and

industrial development, dams• Rural Electrification Administration (REA) helped bring electricity to the region with

loans to farmers.

3. Grand CouleeC. The New Deal and the Arts

1. The Federal Art Project2. “Documentary Impulse”

IV. The New Deal’s Impact on SocietyB. Reshaping the Environment

3. Grand Coulee• building of the Grand Coulee Dam on the Columbia River in Washington

State• largest electricity producing structure in the world.C. The New Deal and the Arts

1. The Federal Art Project• “Art for the Millions”• provided work for artists• Jackson Pollack, Alice Neel, Willem de Kooning among others• Federal Music Project and Writers’ Project further employed musicians and

writers• Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God and Richard Wright’s

Native Son both supported by these programs.

2. “Documentary Impulse”

1. Examine these two photographs by Dorothea Lange. What did Lange hope to convey to her audience about life in California during the Great Depression through these images?

1. How is the Grand Coulee Dam representative of New Deal programs?

1. Examine Shahn’s work, The Promise of the New Deal. What is the central action of this third panel of the three-part mural?

2. In your opinion, what message was Shahn presenting to his audience about the New Deal?